WHAT IMPACT WILL recent events in Donegal have on their preparations for this weekend’s Ulster championship clash against Derry?
Brian McIver isn’t buying the theory that Derry’s opponents are in disarray
“The last time there was controversy in Donegal over Kevin Cassidy’s omission from the panel, they turned around and won the All-Ireland so I would pay little attention to that” said the Derry manager.
“Whatever happened there is completely irrelevant from our point of view. I am not even saying that there was a row. I don’t know what exactly went on. It has no bearing whatsoever on our preparations and I know it will have absolutely no impact on Donegal’s preparations. Believe me come two o’clock on Sunday this will be one ding-dong battle.”
Among those to leave the Donegal panel last month was 2012 All-Star Mark McHugh, but McIver has no doubts over the quality which remains within the Donegal team.
“I don’t think there are any doubts there,”he says. “They are well-established, they have been working on a pattern of play now for the last two or three years; they know exactly what they are doing.”
McIver’s Derry reached this year’s Division 1 league final after an impressive semi-final victory over Mayo, although they were then subject to a fifteen point trouncing by Dublin.
“It was a reality check for everyone involved in terms of where exactly we were at. It was a reality check that will do us no harm.”
Derry did manage to defeat Dublin during the league last March, in a game played in Celtic Park.
“Dubin in Croke Park is a going to be a different animal to Dublin in any other ground around the country” said McIver. “We thought we had prepared well for it but they simply blew us away in the first 10 or 15 minutes. The other side to that is that we probably learned more from that than we did in all the other games we played in the league so it is how we factor those lessons into Sunday that matters.”
Fergal Doherty returned to the fold this year, after a three year absence for Derry. The midfielder played in all of the county’s league games managing two points in that win over Dublin.
Although his midfield partnership with Patsy Bradley struggled in the league final defeat, with the later being substituted early in the second half.
“The fact that they dominated so much of the game around the midfield area and that was not so much down to midfield, it was down to their half-backs and half-forwards and the amount of ball that they were getting. In the middle of all that we created chances but we did not take them.”
Donegal were also defeated in their Division 2 league final last month. But McIver who managed Donegal to Division 1 league glory in 2007, believes that neither team will be affected by their league final defeats.
“We are reading absolutely nothing into the Monaghan game. That is not taking away from Monaghan but Donegal had returned from a heavy week’s training and that looked to be the case. I know myself that if you are doing heavy training and you are trying to play matches at the same time it is not easy to do.
“As I would read it, Donegal had met their objectives, they had got themselves promoted and their preparations after that was geared for ourselves. Neither of those two results will have any bearing come two o’clock on Sunday.”
